Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CXLVIII--Janis Joplin: Me and Bobby McGee

Back in the day before there were computers and video games and a thousand TV channels, families used to entertain themselves in ways that may seem somewhat quaint today.  One of the ways my family entertained ourselves when I was but a wee lad was by singing together (and, no, in case you were wondering we were neither as cool, nor as talented, as the Partridge Family...if you're of a certain age).  And one of the songs I remember us doing was this week's tune, with my sister on guitar (she took lessons for about two years and even today, when she picks up a guitar once every fifteen years or so, she's much better than me) and the rest of us singing along to one of my Dad's favorite tunes.  In fact, for many years I was considerably more familiar with our rendition than with Ms. Joplin's much celebrated version.

If ever there was an artist who lived up to the ideal behind a "tortured artist" it was Janis Joplin.  Born and raised in Port Arthur, Texas, Joplin was ostracized and bullied in high school for being just a tad on the different side, and after a year of college got the hell out of Dodge and headed for the San Francisco Bay Area--where she quickly developed problems with both alcohol abuse (Southern Comfort) and drug addiction (heroin).  After a knockout performance (Joplin is still considered one or rock's truly great live performers) at the Monterrey Pop Festival in 1967 with Big Brother and the Holding Company (Joplin was also great at surrounding herself with bands with cool names--as the aforementioned band as well as the Kozmic Blues Band and the Full Tilt Boogie Band), Joplin's career went into the stratosphere and she released three albums over the next three years with varying degrees of success, though her star continued to rise.  Sadly, while in the midst of recording her fourth album, Joplin overdosed on heroin and died on October 4, 1970, just two weeks after Jimi Hendrix succumbed to the same fate.  Her last album, Pearl (and her nickname, one of rock's great nicknames), would go on to be the most successful of her career and add to a legacy that would end up with her election to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, as well as being considered one of the truly great rock and roll female vocalists of all time.  It's easy to see why such flamboyant female vocalists as Stevie Nicks, Madonna, Amy Winehouse, and Lady Gaga (among several others) owe her a serious debt of gratitude.

Written by one of America's great songwriters ("Help Me Make It Through the Night," "For the Good Times," "Sunday Morning Comin' Down" and many others), Kris Kristofferson (who is really worth a listen if you give yourself some time to get used to his scratchy vocals), "Me and Bobby McGee" was released on her previously mentioned Pearl album in 1970, and would go on to become her only #1 (most assuredly with a bullet!) single on the Billboard Hot 100.  Recorded just days before her death, it would also go on to rank #148 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

Fun (if somewhat sad) Fact:  "Me and Bobby McGee" was the second single to reach #1 posthumously on the Billboard Hot 100--the first being the utterly delightful "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay" by Otis Redding.

Opening with just Joplin playing an acoustic guitar, "Me and Bobby McGee" weaves the tale of two ill-fated lovers roaming across America looking for a home who eventually part ways, leaving the narrator to spend the rest of her life ruing the day.  About a minute in, the Full Tilt Boogie Band kicks in and the song takes it up a notch, becoming a bluesy, spiritual, pop song ruminating on the nuances of lost love.  The song is notable for having one of the most memorable lines ever written for a song ("Freedom's just another word for nothin' left to lose..."), Joplin's beyond incredible vocals, and for being covered by literally thousands of artists.  The last minute of the song showcases the Full Tilt Boogie Band turning it into a, well, full tilt boogie--and at close the song becomes a masterful performance for a masterpiece of songwriting, and one of rock's quintessential numbers.

Lyric Sheet:  "Busted flat in Baton Rouge, headin' for the trains/Feelin' nearly faded as my jeans..."

Enjoy:

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

Who the fuck cares?

At least these guys would make the NHL watchable...

Considering that a) there are more African-Americans on your average NFL team's starting defense than there is in the entire National Hockey League, and b) that the majority of players in the NHL aren't even Americans, it was somewhat surprising that NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman was even asked about the NHL's reaction to the anthem protests in the National Football League.  Nonetheless, Bettman's response was typical, showing complete ignorance to the racism in America which stirred the protests in the first place, and toeing the line of what the lily white and ultra wealthy owners in the NHL would prefer:  fans don't come to games for protest rallies.

Which should come as quite the relief to the three Americans that actually still watch hockey.

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

All the small things

He's actually nicer than your average republican...

It really isn't a small thing, but once again republicans have voted for Big Business and it will cost average Americans dearly.  In the dead of night on Tuesday, republicans repealed a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau rule that made it easier for the little guy to sue banks (via class action lawsuits) and prevented banks and financial institutions from making their customers accept forced arbitration clauses, which means...if Wells-Fargo opens fake accounts in your name unless you have the wherewithal to afford a lawyer on your own (not most of us) that can compete with a multinational corporation's massive legal department, you're fucked.  Or if Equifax manages to get hacked and gives away all of your personal information, and they want to take you to binding arbitration...you're fucked.

"Christian" Mike Pence cast the deciding vote that made it much easier for banks to screw Americans--if there's a special place in hell for Christians who are anything but, Pence will be the first one admitted.

This is another in a long line of republican actions that don't get much press coverage, like their passage of right to work for less laws in numerous states, which show their true loyalty to an unfettered capitalism which results in all of us having less legal recourse against Corporate America and and a lot less money in our pockets.

By the way, thanks to republicans, credit union here I come!

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CXLVII--Keane: Somewhere Only We Know

This week we'll feature Coldplay's less handsome, somewhat dorkier, and definitely less successful younger brother and his career making hit single...

Sadly (or not), in doing my weekly half-assed research for this week's post, I discovered that the history of Keane is decidedly not that, uh, keen.  Nothing bad, like being supporters of say, Donald Trump, but just a wee bit on the dull side.  Give them credit, though, for forming as a band in 1995 (give or take) and slogging it out until their big break with their first major label release in 2004 (after being discovered by...the same guy, Simon Williams, who discovered their big brother).  Piano player and chief songwriter Tim Rice-Oxley was heard playing by Chris Martin of their big brother and was offered a spot in Coldplay, which he wisely turned down to stick with Keane since Coldplay eventually did away with their keyboardist position.  They are a rarity in pop music as as they are a piano first band, and while the guitar has gotten a bigger role through their career, it's still a background instrument.  Other than that, they've released four studio LPs, an EP, sold over ten million records (which seems slight compared to their big brother's 90 million, but anyway you slice it, it's ten million more records than emaycee's ever sold), and had five major tours.  While they've been much more commercially successful in their native U.K., they've also had more success here in the states than I would have guessed with two of their albums reaching the top ten (#4 and #7) on the Billboard 200.

Fun Fact:  In 2008, Q magazine asked its readers to vote for the the best British albums ever, and Keane placed two albums (Hopes and Fears and Under the Iron Sea) in the top twenty--joining the Beatles, Oasis, and Radiohead as the only artists with two albums in the top twenty.  Pretty heady company there...

Released in 2004 on their aforementioned Hopes and Fears LP, "Somewhere Only We Know" would become a career making single for Keane.  Though it only reached #50 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100, it rose all the way to #3 on the UK Singles chart (so many cool kids in England)--and its success paved the way for future tunes to come.

Keane has stated the song is more of a symbol or a metaphor rather than having a specific meaning, though I've always kind of thought of it as a song about a couple struggling with their relationship trying to find their way back to a place where the relationship was flourishing.   As I completely forgot the piano in last week's tune as I raved so much about Norah Jones' vocals, I don't want to make it two weeks in a row without noting that some succulent piano work helps carry "Somewhere Only We Know," as well.  In fact, there are only two instruments featured in the song--piano and drums.  Like last week's tune, though, it's the vocals that really shine.  Tom Chaplin uses his voice to just the right effect, and doesn't turn an epic ballad into an overwrought pop song as happens far too often in the pop music world.  Every now and again a good ballad helps get you through a bad day, and "Somewhere Only We Know" is one of those good ballads that's gotten me through many a bad day.

Lyric Sheet:  "Oh simple thing where have you gone/I'm getting old and I need something to rely on..."

Enjoy:

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

Without comment

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

Kid Crock

Kid Rock must be in the house...

Note that at Wednesday's Detroit Pistons home opener in their new downtown Detroit stadium, a surprise appearance by Eminem was met with wild cheers, while a Jumbotron shot of Kid Rock was met with boos.

Though I've always suspected Kid Rock's considering a run against Senator Debbie Stabenow in 2018 to be more of a way to sucker republicans out of their money than an actual bid to be in the U.S. Senate, he might just want to reconsider if he's actually planning on challenging Sen. Stabenow.

Seems that the folks in Michigan aren't all that fond of folks who support racist assholes.

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

General-ly pathetic

My kind of military men...

It's reached a point with the police in America where every time there's an officer involved shooting, within minutes some police officer spokesman is on the air telling us why exactly it was the blind and deaf quadriplegic's fault he got shot 47 times in the back by a cop.  And it's also reached a point where the spokesman's comment is met with either intense anger or a roll of the eyes--and the end result is that less and less Americans have either any trust or respect for America's police forces.

Cue to the pathetic spectacle that was General John Kelly yesterday trying to defend Donald Trump's showing us yet again that he's a cretin without an ounce of empathy in his callous comments to the widow of La David Johnson, who was one of the four American soldiers killed recently in Niger.  Even setting aside the fact that Trump had time to golf four times in between the soldiers' deaths and his calling of their families (beyond unacceptable), Kelly's performance should give pause to every single American.  He lied about Rep. Frederica Wilson (and make no mistake, his comments were meant to appeal to republicans' racist base), noted that there was a time when women were sacred without the slightest sense of awareness that his fucking boss was caught on tape saying how he grabbed women by their *****, mentioned Gold Star families without the slightest sense of awareness that his fucking boss has completely disrespected Gold Star families again and again, and then gets a pass because he's in the fucking military.

If there is any good that can come out of another mess created by the kings of incompetence, it's that maybe finally we on the left can begin to counter the support our troops bullshit that we've been fed for far too long, when in reality it has nothing to do with supporting our troops and everything to do with stifling criticism of the republican party.  And if the end result is the same for our military as that of our police officers, they, too, will have no one but themselves to blame for defending the indefensible.

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CXLVI--Norah Jones: Don't Know Why

A little known yet completely uninteresting fact about emaycee is that that he loves him some female vocalists--and from Rosanne Cash to Mary Chapin Carpenter to Reba McEntire to Patty Loveless, from Joni Mitchell to Carole King to Janet Jackson to Liz Phair, and from girl groups like The Angels, The Go-Gos, and The Bangles, he's had plenty of good ones to choose from.  So he never had a chance from the very first time he listened to this week's tune--and especially when you throw in that the singer in question is both a brunette and beautiful...

Norah Jones was born Geetali Norah Shankar--and for those of you who know your music you'll note her birth surname is the same as that of Ravi Shankar, her father and famed Indian sitarist whose influence on sixties music (thanks largely to George Harrison) you either loved or hated.  Jones was largely raised by her mother, concert promoter Sue Jones, in Grapevine, Texas where she honed her craft in high school and college.  In the early 2000s she moved to New York City, developed a reputation as a jazz chanteuse, and released her first album, Come Away with Me in 2002.  It would go on to reach #1 on the Billboard 200, win five Grammy Awards, and eventually sell over 27 million copies.  It also launched quite the career for Jones--she's since released five more albums (four of which went platinum), sold 25 million more records, won four more Grammy Awards, and had numerous fabulously successful world tours.  She's collaborated with too many artists to count, done some incredible cover versions (her version of Randy Newman's "I Think It's Going to Rain Today" literally brings tears to my eyes), and acted in a few movies.  Be willing to bet that not too many other folks from Grapevine, Texas have had quite the career success that Ms. Jones has...

Also released in 2002, "Don't Know Why" was the first single from Jones' debut album.  The song would only reach #30 (most assuredly with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100, but would go on to win Grammy's for both Record of the Year and Song of the Year.  Surprisingly, for all the success Ms. Jones has had in her musical career, it is the only single of hers to crack the top 40.

While I love the underlying motif of the song--a woman has chosen not to meet someone she truly cares for at a rendezvous and really doesn't know why (hence the title) though she is already ruing it and knows she probably will for the rest of her life--it's Jones' vocals that are the whole song.  One cannot train oneself to sing like Jones does--it is a gift from the Music Gods and I can goddamn guarantee you they pat themselves on the back every day for the abilities Ms. Jones has. Her vocals capture the heartache, the sorrow, and the confusion of her decision about as perfectly as any emotion has ever been captured in any song (only slight hyperbole).  I discovered it on VH-1 back in the day when television music channels were still pretending to care about music, and it was--and remains to this day--a breath of fresh air every time I hear it.

Lyric Sheet:  "When I saw the break of day/I wished that I could fly away/Instead kneeling in the sand/Catching teardrops in my hand..."

Enjoy:

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

A false equivalence

They'll never be one of the cool kids

After years of reports of serial sex abusers at Fox News and their sexual deviant President, Donald Trump, republicans are thrilled that a Democratic donor, movie producer Harvey Weinstein, is currently in shit deep trouble over his sexual assaults.

Let me school them in why there is no there, there:  A)  Unlike republicans, Democrats have immediately and definitively disavowed Weinstein, B)  They have returned all of his donations, C) Weinstein is not the leader of the Democratic Party, D) Democrats have not sent out a media whore like Kellyanne Conway to defend Weinstein's sexual perversity, and, most importantly, E) Weinstein is not the President of the United States.

Any questions, idiots?

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

Cypher of the year

Eminem gave Trump more than a couple boots

While I had to look up what a cypher was and am woefully behind the times on hip hop and rap, I had a three word take on Eminem's bitch slap of Donald Trump at last night's BET Hip Hop Awards:  Beyond fucking brilliant.

The best four minutes of art since the inauguration of Donald Trump--enjoy:

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

The Bozo bus keeps breaking down--who'd have guessed?

These idiots are running our country

Leaving aside the million dollars of our taxes that Mike Pence spent for his publicity stunt in the shithole that is Indiana yesterday, the thing that most stands out from his walking out on the 49ers protest yesterday is the sheer and utter incompetence that came with it.  Notifying the media beforehand that it was likely Pence's stay at the game would be short and his flying cross country (again, at a cost to us of over a million dollars) was beyond stupid.  These fucking people can't even do a PR event right and we're supposed to trust them to run our country?

By the way, if you want to read a thoughtful piece on what Pence's walkout really meant (can you say systemic oppression, boys and girls?), read what 49ers safety Eric Reid had to say.

Finally, I can honestly say I've never been prouder to be a lifelong 49ers fan.  NINERS!!!

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

Go fuck yourself, numbnuts

Russia Russia Russia Russia Russia

Leaving aside the fact that Arizona Rep. Paul Gosar claim that George Soros financially backed the Nazis and White Supremacists in Charlottesville proves he's crazier than a shit house rat, when you are happy to let a hostile foreign government interfere in our elections simply because your party won you have absolutely no moral standing to impugn any political actions utilized by your political adversaries.

Besides, at least George Soros is an American citizen.

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CXLV--Elton John: Tiny Dancer

In all honesty, if I'd never seen the movie Almost Famous, there is no way "Tiny Dancer" would have been this week's featured tune.  I knew the song in a small way, but it was a minor hit from a thousand years ago.  But once you see the bus scene in Almost Famous where the band and its followers sing along, you'll never forget it--hell, the Beautiful Girl downloaded it from Kazaa (remember that one?) the very next day after she'd seen it.

Elton John is another in a long line of rock and roll stars whose resume is a bit long for a brief recap.  Nonetheless, he has released over thirty albums, sold over 300 million records, won five Brit Awards, five Grammy Awards, an Academy Award, and a Tony.  He was elected into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994, has numerous songwriting awards and honors with his partner, lyricist Bernie Taupin, has six albums on the Rolling Stone list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time," and has been given a knighthood by Queen Elizabeth.  He also had thirty-one consecutive years (1970-2000) with at least one single on the Billboard Hot 100, is the first person to ever have an album debut at #1 on the Billboard 200, and has the greatest selling single ("Candle in the Wind") ever in both the U.S. and the U.K (33 million copies).  And truth be told, since 1975 everything he's done has been utter shit to my ears, but much like Rod Stewart (who at least had "Downtown Train" in the eighties) that doesn't take away from the several great years he had from 1970-1975 (he was as big a rock star as there was in that time) that made him a rock and roll icon.

I would be remiss if I did not mention that John is a noted humanitarian and has done much in the battle against AIDS (including having the go to after party for the Academy Awards--surprisingly enough, I've never been), as well as being a leader in LGBT community and a voice for their equal rights.

While "Tiny Dancer" has become a classic and concert staple through the years, it didn't have typical success--originally released in 1972 from the 1971 album Madman Across the Water (one of the better album titles in the rock era), it only reached #41 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100 and was never even released as a single in the U.K. (thought it made it to #19 in Canada thanks to all the cool Canadian kids).  Still, it's been certified platinum here in the states and silver in the U.K. even though it was not a single (not exactly sure how that worked....).  Unlike many hit singles, as well, it clocks in at over six and a half minutes which is three and a half minutes longer than your average Top 40 radio usually played back in the day.

Lyricist Taupin has said the song was trying to capture the spirit of California in the early seventies as evidenced by the many beautiful women he met there--which I can attest to, though, being a dork, I never actually met them, I just admired them from afar.  In listening to it over the past couple of days, what stands out most to me is its simplicity--while there's a touch of guitar, some drums, and some strings, it's mostly John's piano playing which stays with you.  And then there's the vocals--John manages to convey both the joy and the sorrow that is at the heart of the song, and bounces from storyteller with the staccato breaks to emcee of the upcoming wonder to pop star extraordinaire as he's singing for the tiny dancer to hold him closer.  "Candle in the Wind" may have sold 33 million copies, but "Tiny Dancer" should have--it's Elton John's masterpiece and a timeless classic celebrating the loveliness that is women.

Liner Notes:  "Jesus freaks out in the street/Handing tickets out for God/Turning back she just laughs/The boulevard ain't that bad..."

Enjoy:

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

Pro just whose life

Not to your average republican...

There are over 30,000 gun related deaths every years in the United States, so let's be perfectly clear:  if you claim to be pro life and you're not marching in the streets and calling on your Congressperson to put an end to the gun insanity that occurs only in America, you are not truly pro life.  You are really just pro shoving your religious views down the throats of the rest of your countrymen.

You can't claim to be pro life and then get to pick and choose which lives actually matter to you.

Unless, of course, you're a republican.

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

It's just the normal noises in here

My introduction to T.P.

Like I did with Bruce Springsteen and Born to Run, I discovered Tom Petty with the release of his third album (Christmas present, 1979), Damn the Torpedoes.  For the better part of the next twenty years, the announcement of each and every release of his was cause for celebration and each album was a joy to listen to.  Unlike The Beatles or The Rolling Stones or even The Who, whose best work was behind them by the time I discovered them, Petty (and Springsteen and John Mellencamp) had numerous albums full of classics that I got to discover without the grace of the past and was lucky enough to watch his brilliant career unfold in real time.

Hearing of his passing yesterday at the age of 66 brought me to tears for only the second time when a hero of mine had died (Muhammad Ali being the first), and I have spent the better part of today listening to my favorite songs of his and not without some emotion.  I keep thinking "My God, he's gone," but he really isn't.  His musical legacy will be with me and his many fans for the rest of our lives and that is no small gift.  It's also a reminder that we are all here for a relatively short time, and it's the (hopefully) happy memories that will survive us.

For some odd reason, of all the umpteen songs of his that I loved, the one that's been resounding in my head since I heard the news is a relatively unknown cut from his Echo album, entitled, appropriately enough, "Echo."  Probably because his passing leaves me with the "...the same sad echo":

R.I.P, Mr. Petty, and thanks for the happy memories....

emaycee

Fuck the rich

Take your country back...from the rich

I had two takeaways from this video of Harvard students silently protesting a speech by Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos:

First, it's how strong the resistance remains--from the marches on Trump's inauguration day to the travel ban protests to NFL players taking a knee to these students silently protesting a woman who got her job the rich people's way (she bought it) and the administration she represents, you have to feel that our hopes for taking back what will remain of America are strong.

The second one occurs at the end, when a student asks a perfectly reasonable question in a polite manner:  exactly how much money does billionaire DeVos, Wall Street, and other rich folks like the Koch Brothers stand to gain from turning our public education over to for profit organizations?  And at that point someone (presumably a member of Harvard faculty or one of its administrators) tells DeVos that she doesn't have to answer that question.  Why the fuck not?  It's a legitimate question and she's a public official getting paid by our tax dollars and answerable to we, the American people.

She most certainly has to fucking answer it and the fact that she didn't is entirely telling that her agenda isn't about helping America's children but is instead about making her greedy family even richer.

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

An uh-oh moment

Not so good numbers...

Though I'm not as optimistic as some about the 2018 elections (gerrymandering, Democrats knack for snatching defeat from the jaws of victory), even I have to admit that their chances are looking rosier.  And with Trump and the republican party's approval ratings continuing to stay in the toilet, a bit of optimism isn't uncalled for.

But...(and I might be making a mountain out of a molehill) I couldn't help but be bothered by the numbers of Trump's fitness to be President coming from Hispanic voters.  Keeping in mind that 94% of African-Americans thought Trump unfit for the Presidency, isn't it a little troublesome that only 60% of Hispanic voters thought Trump unfit?  Especially considering the brutal ICE arrests and deportations as well Trump's piss poor response to the destruction Hurricane Maria wrought on Puerto Rico.

We are not going to take back Congress without a large showing from people of color, and if 40% of Hispanics think Trump is fit for office we have a lot of work to do with Hispanic voters.

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee